The performer joins the video call and right away begins an excuse. “I can’t believe I’m late!” she says, seeming really remorseful. She is only a bit delayed, she needs to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, during an interview, this is precisely what is ideal to hear. Moreover, it’s quite expected. Those who know the boldly queer and unapologetically crass project titled Bottoms—that she co-wrote with Emma Seligman and starred in together with close companion the talented actress—will be aware that she holds plenty to share, be it on roles, relationships, or the merits of creating a high-school brawl society. And, once you finish her latest eight-part show I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she carries further thoughts regarding the darker side of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as a bridge of the gang, straddling eras skilled for straddling both generations).
Influences and Creative Vision
Likenesses to Lena Dunham’s groundbreaking show can’t be avoided and Sennott admits to being enthusiastic, referencing the show alongside the HBO hit, the acclaimed comedy and the innovative program as inspirations for the project, which follows the journey of online personality played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and new talent manager Sennott’s character. Perhaps, the largest influence on creative vision went to the HBO series, the HBO sitcom depicting an up-and-coming celebrity succeeding in a corrupt entertainment industry (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). She discovered it throughout lockdown, became “captivated”, and chose to put her own twist on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“I sought to highlight online platforms as the new industry, since my professional journey launched there,” she notes. The concept for this project emerged—in part—from her own, at first rocky, move to Los Angeles and from her astrological phase, a much-talked-about event for followers. It was an era that included her understand major insights, professionally and individually. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” “The struggles felt almost mythic in scale…”
Starting Out
Growing up in New England, Sennott commenced developing and showcasing humor while pursuing acting at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “I followed traditional paths to get on stage, but nothing clicked,” she explains. “I tried out for all the NYU comedy groups, and got rejected from all of them. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. “I wondered why I was even there at all.”
Sennott seized control, taking the stage at amateur nights with Edebiri and sharing hilarious (and distinctly) unconventional comedy videos online. A particular video, Baby Cult, depicted several females obsessively obsessed with having babies; a different one portrayed being employed at the brand Hollister as akin to being caught in a thriller. In a neat twist of fate, she connected with Seligman through campus film circles and ended up starring in her directorial debut, titled Shiva Baby, an anxious comedy set at a funeral gathering with echoes of the Safdie brothers’ movie. The big theme of her career, she says, has been people her own age offering opportunities, instead of the industry at large. So, not the gatekeepers, then? “They were not involved”, she repeats, adding humorously: “They prefer we don’t succeed.”
Career Breakthrough
Individuals who were skeptical regarding her previously will surely be regretting it currently. In what she describes as a “astonishingly complete” turn of events, she has created her dream vehicle. A few years back she posted content called on LA life on the internet, in which she lampooned Hollywood trailers (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Years later, she’s a lead creator (with Emma Barrie) of a show about Angelenos balancing the perks of online celebrity (such as partying at a famous actor’s house) with drawbacks (your client being labeled as being a intoxicated stealer, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). It would be tempting to produce a series about internet celebrity that was extremely glamorous—or, even less favorable, one that punched down at its subjects. The series avoids both, resulting in a portrait of advantaged young adult existence that’s frank about the grot and the glamour.
Empathetic Approach
“There have been a lot of shows that depict young people and their relationship to the internet in this very condescending, hateful way,” she says. “I think that young people have been through a lot – I’m mostly thinking of people younger than me, like my little sister, who went to college during Covid, so she had to come home, or my other sister who was doing school online.”|“The younger generation has faced significant
